Stockton Rush Net Worth: What Is OceanGate CEO Worth?

Stockton Rush has an estimated net worth of $20 million: Richard Stockton Rush III (born March 31, 1962) was an American engineer, pilot, and businessman. He was the co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of OceanGate. On June 18, 2023, he was killed along with four others aboard OceanGate’s submersible Titan while attempting to tour the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic.

In 2006, Rush constructed a miniature submersible by purchasing components from a private company and using blueprints provided by a retired U.S. Navy submarine commander. Rush was motivated by a desire to explore the waters of Puget Sound without needing to train on scuba diving equipment. He initially attempted to purchase his own submarine but found that there were less than 100 privately-owned submarines worldwide. The vessel Rush constructed was 12 feet long and capable of diving to a depth of 30 feet.

Rush’s experience and research led him to believe that submersibles had an unwarranted reputation as dangerous vehicles due to their use in ferrying commercial divers, and that the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993, a United States law regulating the construction of commercial vessels, “needlessly prioritized passenger safety over commercial innovation”. Rush founded OceanGate with business partner Guillermo Söhnlein in 2009 after commissioning a marketing study which concluded there was sufficient demand for underwater ocean tourism. According to Rush, the goal of the company was to use commercial tourism to support the development of new deep-diving submersibles that would enable further commercial ventures including resource mining and disaster mitigation.

In 2018, Rush piloted an expedition with researchers and scientists in the San Juan Islands to observe the red sea urchin and the habitat of the sand lance. In 2022, Rush and four others descended to the ruins of the Titanic, with technical issues relating to the pilot’s controller complicating the exploration of the debris.

Rush was onboard the Titan, a submersible owned by OceanGate, Inc., to view the Titanic wreckage, when the vessel lost contact with the above-water ship MV Polar Prince on June 18, 2023. Search-and-rescue missions involved water and air support from the United States, Canada, and France.

On June 22, after the discovery of a debris field approximately 490 metres (1,600 ft) from the bow of the Titanic, OceanGate said it believed Rush and the four others aboard had “sadly been lost”. A United States Coast Guard press conference later confirmed that the debris found was consistent with a catastrophic loss of the pressure hull, resulting in the deaths of all on board.